Tag: Royal Mail

Up to 3,000 UK Post Offices face closure

Posted by | Dec 11, 2006 | |

A fifth of Britain’s post offices could be shut under government-backed plans to be outlined by ministers next week. Alistair Darling, trade and industry secretary, is preparing to sanction proposals to shut between 2,500 and 3,000 urban and rural post offices in a bid to stem mounting losses, the Financial Times understands. The decision could provoke a backlash from Labour MPs and rural communities which have campaigned fiercely to protect post offices from closure. However, ministers believe they have struck the right balance between Royal Mail’s demands to shut thousands more and the need to maintain a widespread service. Mr. Darling will also make it clear that the government intends to continue with a public subsidy for rural post offices at about its current level of GBP150m a year, which was due to expire in 2008. The Department of Trade and Industry is due to make a statement next Thursday on the future of the 14,400-strong post office network. The cuts are likely to be implemented over a number of years.

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Royal Mail to close 7,000 post offices

Posted by | Dec 10, 2006 | |

The Royal Mail has told the government it wants to close more than 7,000 of its post offices – around half of the 14,400 post offices across Britain.

The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) is expected to make a statement on Thursday about the future of the Royal Mail network, which has already closed thousands of its post offices in the past seven years, reports The Times.

The announcement comes just days after the Bishop of Hulme, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, warned that the closure of many post offices was contributing to the poverty problem at the National Poverty Hearing last week.

The closure of so many post offices was, he said, “making life more difficult and painful”.

Current losses of around GBP2m each week, despite a GBP150m-a-year subsidy from the government, are a major factor in Royal Mail’s announcement.

Kate Hoey, Labour MP and chair of the all-party group for sub-post offices, said in The Times: “MPs of all political persuasions would be up in arms if cuts of this scale were to happen.”

In November campaigners delivered a petition to Downing Street urging ministers to keep as many post offices as possible open in Britain. Rural communities in particular will suffer if the desired closures go ahead.

A DTI spokesman said: “We recognise the wider social role of the post office in communities.

“But also there is widespread recognition that the current size of the network is unsustainable.”

The size of the network will depend on the amount of money that Royal Mail receives from the Treasury, a spokesman for the Royal Mail said.

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Half Britain's Post Offices `will have to close'

Posted by | Dec 9, 2006 | |

The Royal Mail has told ministers that half of Britain’s 14,500 post offices should be shut to stem mounting losses, it was reported today.
But the Government is likely to propose that a fifth of rural and urban branches- between 2,500 and 3,000 – be closed down, according to the Times.
Controversy over plans for reforming the network has been growing in the run-up to an announcement by the Department for Trade and Industry expected next Thursday.
Royal Mail has previously claimed that around 4,000 post offices nationwide would be the optimum “commercial” level, although chief executive Adam Crozier has accepted its social benefits must also be taken into account.
Currently the network comprises around 8,000 rural and 6,500 urban branches, and is said to make an operating loss of GBP2 million every week – subsidised with GBP150 million annually from the Treasury.

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FSB calls for Royal Mail shake-up

Posted by | Dec 9, 2006 | |

The Federation of Small Businesses is calling for a shake-up of the service offered by Royal Mail to its members after research showed 82 per cent of small businesses felt post offices were vital to their operations.

The survey of 3,000 small businesses found that Royal Mail’s introduction of pricing in proportion, in which charges are based on the size as well as weight of items, had increased postage costs for 43 per cent of companies. About 44 per cent said the new pricing regime had also raised the amount of time they spent preparing post.

Clive Davenport, FSB trade and industry chairman, said: “In terms of paying bills and invoicing customers the postal service remains the only small business choice despite the increasing use of new technology. This is partly explained because of recent closures of high-street bank branches.”

The FSB survey found that 48 per cent of respondents’ post arrives later since the Royal Mail merged first and second posts into a single daily delivery in 2004 and 82 per cent said closure of their local post office would have a significant impact on their business.

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Royal Mail recruits ‘Address Detectives’ as it prepares for festive postcode challenge

Posted by | Dec 8, 2006 | |

Royal Mail has taken on more than 3,000 “address detectives” as it prepares to handle 400 million poorly addressed and written Christmas card and letters during the busy festive period.

And it has added a series of new features to its online postcode finder as it encourages people to make sure that they put the correct address on the envelope and include the postcode.

Royal Mail expects to deliver more than two billion items over the festive period but estimates 400 million cards and letters will not be able to be read by its automated sorting machinery either because the postcode has not been included, the item has been poorly addressed or the handwriting style is difficult to read.

But more than 3,000 “address detectives” have been recruited for the festive season to support the 1,400-strong team who will decipher the addresses of items that cannot be read automatically so that the letters can still be processed by the sorting machinery rather than by hand.

Alex Batchelor, Royal Mail’s Marketing Director, said: “Mail volumes almost double on peak days in December and it is important that people properly address their Christmas cards and use the postcode. Letters and cards that have clearly written addresses and a postcode can be read by our machines and handled 20 times faster than by hand.

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